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Tackling climate change in the poorest countries

How can we help the poorest countries deal with climate change? The challenge is huge. Globally, the last three years were the hottest on record. Emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and industry started rising again in 2017 after briefly leveling off. Many regions are experiencing more severe and frequent storms, floods, and drought. According to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, the climate consequences of a 2°C warmer world are far greater than for a rise of 1.5°C, and we are not on track for either.

Having recently exceeded our 2020 financing targets two years ahead of schedule, we are aiming to double our investments to $200 billion over the five years from 2021 to 2025. The Bank Group is also making adaptation and resilience a top priority, since millions of people are already dealing with the severe consequences of more extreme weather events. By ramping up direct adaptation finance to around $50 billion over FY21-25, the World Bank will now give it equal emphasis to investments that reduce emissions.

With donor partners’ strong support, IDA is helping integrate climate into policy reforms and development planning, so that countries can reduce their carbon emissions and become more resilient and climate smart. For example, Forest Policy Notes are shaping dialogue among governments and development partners as well as identifying new engagements and project designs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, and Nepal. In Bangladesh, a Climate Smart Agriculture Investment Plan is helping ensure high-level coordination among government ministries.

On the ground, IDA projects are helping people become climate smart in their agriculture and land use. In Burundi, our Landscape Restoration and Resilience Project is enabling farmer groups to protect topsoil, recover soil fertility, and begin year-round production of nutrient-rich foods. The farmers are now able to access seeds and seedlings for a wider range of food and fodder crops, as well as trees and soil-stabilizing grasses to protect their land. In Ethiopia’s Oromia region, our BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes is helping more women register land and become coffee farmers while also introducing climate-smart practices that boost productivity.

IDA18 is helping expand renewable energy across client countries, both to combat climate change and to improve energy access for the poor. Between July 2017 and September 2018, IDA helped client countries mobilize financing for an additional 6.0 gigawatts of renewable energy generation, exceeding the target of 5 GW. Through development policy lending, IDA is enabling countries like Rwanda to incorporate renewable energy generation into national strategies. And through its new Private Sector Window, IDA has set up a $50 million risk sharing facility to help scale up renewable energy across the Pacific Islands. To crowd in more private capital for renewables, IDA18 is helping seven African countries prepare investment prospectuses. These are complete for Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire and underway in Benin, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, and Togo.